'97 Camaro Z28
Got in the car this morning, car started right up, went to the coffee shop about 5 miles down the road, got coffee, came back out, car started right up, drove about another 5 miles, waited at a red light, began accelerating up a hill and the car just died. Wouldn't restart.

After a tense minute of rush hour upset I got ready to put the car in neutral and push it off the road when I tried to start it again. Started right up and happily drove all the way back to my house where I swapped cars.

I've got a bad drivers side catalytic converter (Get the occasional SES covnerter efficiency about once a month for the past coupla months and its started to rattle in the past few weeks) which I've been planning to replace but just haven't had the time to do. (I replaced the passenger side about 30,000 miles ago)

Would the bad cat cause the stall out?

 

yes could be your cat, but more than likely either an opti staring to go bad or something along those lines ignition related. Could be a fuel pump as well. You need to check the fuel pressure, let it run for awhile. If it dies out again check the fuel test port for pressure. pull the main coil plug wire and lay it against the manifold or something with a screwdriver in it to see if it has spark jumping. If it does, pull a plug wire and see if you got spark there. If not, time for an opti. They like to go bad when they get hot, then work again when they're cold.

 

Fuel pressure looks ok.
Drove it about 100 miles over the weekend, about half highway, half street and had no problems. Weird.

 

Did you pull the codes after it stalled?

 

Nah, it didn't throw any codes. The engine just...shut down and the check gages light came on.

I am getting a "Catalyst efficiency below threshold" code about once a month but didn't have any of those in the system at the time.

 

Not all codes turn on the SES light. DTC 16 is one that doesn't seem to, and its a code that will shut your engine down.

 

My car has only died on the road twice while running (cross my fingers).

One was the fuel pump went out.
The other was the ignition coil when out.

Unfortunately, both times it just happened..no warning a few days ahead or anything.

 

No, no - I did try to pull codes afterwards and came back with no codes in the system. Is that DTC code one that can be read by a typical OBD scanner?

 

There won't be a DTC16 on the '97. If you have a scan tool, and the car will start and run, watch the data stream for a clue.

 

Okay.... DTC 16 = P1371

 

Same here, only time mine shut down completely and wouldn't start (twice) was due to the ICM.